


How Church's Market Opens Up

by lorb



Series: Church's Market [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:00:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorb/pseuds/lorb
Summary: Every person thinks their dead-end job is the worst dead-end job, but the clerks, baggers, stock boys and other personnel at Church’s market probably did have it the worst. Between the unending duties and the incompetent management, the paycheck was almost not worth it. But for whatever reason, the staff filed in everyday and got to work, or at least got paid for their daily shenanigans.





	How Church's Market Opens Up

**Author's Note:**

> This is the introduction piece to my red vs blue AU where they all work in a grocery store.

Every person thinks their dead-end job is the worst dead-end job, but the clerks, baggers, stock boys and other personnel at Church’s market probably did have it the worst. Between the unending duties and the incompetent management, the paycheck was almost not worth it. But for whatever reason, the staff filed in everyday and got to work, or at least got paid for their daily shenanigans.

Groggily, everyone files into the breakroom for the morning shift. Church’s used to open at a comfortable 8 am, but there had been all kinds of changes in the past year. Starting with the takeover of Cardinal’s grocery store, and old odds and ends kind of place that had been the main competition. Softball games was supposed to be the main outlet for it, but it had often crossed the line to all out fights and insults. Then there was the opening of the Fresh Produce Loft (FPL), a high ends market that sold worldly foods at only the best quality. And Church’s, well Church’s was just a local grocery store. which meant that they would have to compete in other ways. So the market opened at 6 am and the unlucky staff filed in.

As per always, Simmons is the first one in. It doesn't matter that he’s scheduled to arrive at 5:45, he’s here at 5:30 on the dot. Dick Simmons is unfortunate in that half of his features are what you would call prominent. He’s over 6 feet tall and less than 150 pounds, his hair is red (not in the dark almost brown way but in the red, holy shit that guy is a ginger way), his ears are too big, and, after an accident, he landed a prosthetic arm and a glass eye. He is also a sixth year college student. He just doesn't test well he'll tell you, he's very smart, he'll insist. And to be fair, he's right. He really just doesn't test well. His anxiety is off the charts and it doesn't help that half of his professors are women, making him pause in his tracks. Simmons used to only work during the school year, but after the insane accident and the accompanying blowout with his family he's moved to Blood Gulch and is a full time in everything but title cashier. Simmons had been a Cardinal's employee but his loyalty lies with whoever's the most organized, so he'd take a job with FPL in a heartbeat.

Lopez says nothing as he walks in at 5:33. Simmons doesn't even know his full name, just that he's Lopez the stock guy and he only speaks Spanish (though Simmons is highly suspicious he knows perfect English). That and Sarge dotes over him like a son, even though he doesn't even speak Spanish and Simmons is literally right there working just as hard and they speak the same language. Lopez clocks in, puts in headphones, and gets straight to work. He's a no nonsense kind of guy and an insanely hard worker, even if he hates his coworkers and the only way he hides it is behind his native tongue.

Doc and Donut come in together at 5:38, making Simmons wonder for the thirtieth time this month if there’s something going on. There’s literally no reason for Doc to come this early, so it’s suspect. There has to be something, right? Frank DuFresne got the name Doc for his habit of running for the first aid kit at the first sign of distress. He fought against it, but the time he tried to put a bandaid on a broken finger cemented the nickname. Doc is the florist, living with the luxury of making his own schedule since it’s a take it or leave it part of the store. He’s gentle, kind, and maybe a little too gullible when it comes to trusting the rest of the staff. In his mind, they’re all friends, but really he’s got a friend in Donut alone.

Franklin Delano Donut, somehow his actual name, works in the bakery. According to him he has magic fingers and he’d love to show you some time if you’d just have him over. Donut has received a surprising three HR referrals due to his heavily innuendoed way of speaking. What’s surprising is that he hasn’t had more. All of them have been dismissed with warnings to watch his words, but it doesn’t change. Donut moved to Blood Gulch to attend school but dropped out quickly (it was just a way to leave his little farm town), and he’s finding real joy in baking. His specialty is cupcakes.

Caboose is early today, it’s always early or late; never on time. So at 5:40 he salutes an overly excited greeting to Simmons (making him spill the coffee) and starts to practice his greeting. Michael J. Caboose is everyone’s favorite greeter, except maybe the people he works with. Standing in his blue apron, he’ll shout an exuberant hello at everyone who enters Church’s. The Caboose family is a staple in the town of Blood Gulch and quite honestly keeps Church’s open. For that reason, they can’t fire the guy but they also can’t trust him with too much so a greeter he’s been and a greeter he will stay.Caboose is simple; he’s a big guy and he loves everyone. Some people call him childish and many of his behaviors deserve this name, but overall he’s just a bit confused and could use some more explanation. He normally tries to get this explanation from Church.

Leonard Church, the son of _the_ Church, like Church’s Market _Church,_ is the morning shift manager. Some people say that they tried to give him a job higher up but failure after failure led him to manning the morning shift. Church straddles a line between wanting to be in charge and wanting to be a friend with his employees. He squabbles with the staff like family and will switch to barking orders, but at the end of the day the son of a bitch is almost always irritable. Everyone’s pretty sure there’s a reason why, but no one can figure it out. Church shows up a moment before 5:45.

Also coming in at the same time is the mystery that is Sarge. No one knows his real name, Church had tried to look it up in the system but the file’s just gone. Beside the name, Sarge isn’t an enigma. He used to be in the military, he stands for order above all else, he has a violent streak, and he hates the deli boy. He’s faithful to Cardinal’s, wearing it’s signature red smock and tie which causes Church to roll his eyes. How many times has he told him to just put on the goddamn blue apron. Rumor has it that they can’t fire him because of some weird agreement made when they merged the stores. Either way he’s here and he’s probably pissed and ready to spit.

Simmons is nervous that Grif is going to be stupid late when it gets to be 5:50, but then the door opens. And Simmons still has to be nervous, because it’s Tucker and he’s still wearing his sunglasses so he’s probably hungover. Where Simmons can barely ask a woman paper or plastic, Tucker is there to flirt with her all the way to her car. Normally he doesn’t get that far as they tend to take the bags he’s so messily packed and get the hell out of the store. Tucker’s ambitious, whiny, horny, self obsessed, but somehow also a good friend. No one tries to figure it out, he just is. Tucker’s been living in Blood Gulch since he can remember, he started bagging when he was 16 and life didn’t pan out exactly how he wanted so he’s still bagging some years later.

At 5:57 the door opens again and Grif comes in, buttoning up his shirt (with yesterday’s stains) and throwing on his apron. Simmons tries to rush him to clock in, but Grif takes his own pace. What are they gonna do, fire him? They could, but they won’t. He’d put money on it… if he had any money to spare. Grif uses his paycheck to support him and his sister, and he’s been working here since he was 15. Meat is his game; he works between the deli and the butcher (at 6 am you don’t really need both) and that little metal bell is his fucking nemesis. He can usually hide in the walk-in cooler for hours on end, but that stupid bell goes off and he has to obey.

6:00 the doors open. No one comes in, but the work day has begun. A whole new set of mishaps and adventures are to be had.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be adding a number of vignettes and short stories to this series. All of them will be able to stand on their own, however, you may get a better understanding if you read through more of them. The only one I'd push every reader to read is this introduction. Each story exists in this same universe, so you won't have (for example) a fic where Grimmons is AU-cannon and then another where Grif and Simmons have never gotten together. 
> 
> This is a really self-indulgent AU that was originally just a way for me to write more Grimmons stuff but it's become so much more than that. It's definitely still Grimmons heavy (but that's who I usually write for so no surprise there).


End file.
